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Don Muraco
In the early 1970's, Muraco debuted for Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA). Wrestling as a face, he often tagged with Jimmy Snuka, against wrestlers such as Larry Hennig, Ivan Koloff and Dusty Rhodes. In 1981, Muraco debuted in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where he would have his greatest success. Managed by The Grand Wizard, he captured the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship on June 20, 1981, from Pedro Morales. He lost it to Morales on November 23 in a Texas Death match, capping a bloody feud. That year, Muraco wrestled then WWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund several times, including a 60-minute draw on October 24. Now managed by Captain Lou Albano, Muraco regained the Intercontinental title from Morales on January 22, 1983. That year, Muraco feuded with Albano's former protégé, Jimmy Snuka. The feud culminated on October 17, in a steel cage match at Madison Square Garden. Snuka lost the match, but afterward dragged Muraco back into the ring and hit his finisher, the Superfly Splash, from the top of the 15-foot cage. During his two Intercontinental title reigns, Muraco had bloody feuds with Bob Backlund, Tony Atlas and Rocky Johnson. He portrayed an arrogant villain who angrily demanded respect, while engaging in disrespectful behavior himself; in one match, he brought a submarine sandwich to the ring and ate it while dominating his outmatched opponent. Later, he would preface his matches by dedicating his impending finishing move, the piledriver, to either the heel commentator or whomever he was feuding with at the time. On February 11, 1984, Muraco lost the Intercontinental title to Tito Santana. After a series of unsuccessful rematches, Muraco took a hiatus from wrestling in August 1984. Muraco returned to the WWF in 1985, managed by Mr. Fuji. After not wrestling on the card of the first WrestleMania, Muraco headlined three consecutive Madison Square Garden cards against WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan, climaxing in a bloody steel cage match on June 21, which Hogan won. On July 8, Muraco won the first King of the Ring tournament when he pinned The Iron Sheik in the final. Before defeating the Sheik, Muraco had defeated the Junkyard Dog, Les Thornton and Pedro Morales to reach the final. In addition to feuding with Ricky Steamboat for much of the remainder of the year which included hanging Steamboat from the top rope with Steamboat's own karate belt on an episode of WWF Championship Wrestling, Fuji and Muraco debuted Fuji Vice, a series of skits on Tuesday Night Titans (Fuji General followed soon after). In 1986, Muraco allied with Adrian Adonis and Bob Orton, Jr. in their feud with Roddy Piper. This led to Orton and Muraco becoming a regular tag team. In March 1987 they lost to the Can-Am Connection (Tom Zenk and Rick Martel) in the opening match of WrestleMania III in front of a reported 93,173 fans at the Pontiac Silverdome. July 1987, a falling out between Muraco and Orton led to a feud between them and a face turn for Muraco. Muraco won almost every match in the feud, on TV and at house shows, until Orton left the WWF that year. In a TV taping aired in November 1987, Muraco solidified his face status by saving Superstar Billy Graham from a three-on-one beating by Butch Reed, One Man Gang and Slick, and taking Graham as his new manager. Muraco adopted Graham's tie-dye attire and changed his nickname from "Magnificent Muraco" to "The Rock" (although announcer Gorilla Monsoon continued to refer to Muraco by his previous nickname). Muraco replaced Graham on the team led by his former rival Hulk Hogan at the first Survivor Series and reached the quarterfinals of the WWF World Heavyweight Championship tournament at WrestleMania IV. In his final months with the WWF, he feuded with Greg Valentine and lost to Dino Bravo at the inaugural SummerSlam. Muraco left the WWF in late 1988. Muraco won the ECW Championship twice, before the promotion was renamed Extreme Championship Wrestling. During his time there, he rekindled old feuds with Jimmy Snuka and Tito Santana. In 2004, Muraco was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Mick Foley. In 2007, Muraco inducted his former manager, Mr. Fuji, into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2007.Category:WWE Hall of Fame Inductees Category:ECW Champions Category:Intercontinental Champions Category:King of the Ring Winners